Teachers’ experiences regarding continuous professional development and the curriculum assessment policy statement

Abstract

South Africa has undergone different curriculum changes with the aim of improving the standard of the education system. This article reports on qualitative research used to explore the experiences of teachers in rural areas in South Africa’s Limpopo province regarding Continuous Professional Development (CPD) on the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). The findings from the research suggest that proper planning, preparation, implementation and support of CPD for teachers are needed when a new curriculum is introduced. The teachers felt that the time allocated to CAPS training was too short, the trainers were not knowledgeable and teachers received little or no support after training. Teachers, however, commented favorably on the usefulness of the material during the training. The paper recommends that more monitoring and evaluation from the district and provincial office are required to enable teachers to deliver quality education after CPD.